


Nowadays

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Swingtown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-20
Updated: 2008-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 04:27:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1631510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The summer of 1976 changed a lot. Is Trina happy now? A brief glimpse into the very near future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nowadays

**Author's Note:**

> Written for smithereen

 

 

"Trina! Do not! Do not touch that! I'll get it."

Trina stepped away from the crib and frowned at Janet. "I'm pregnant, not paralyzed."

Janet didn't answer right away, just grunted as she pushed the wheel-less piece of furniture against the middle of the far wall. She stood up and said, "That's where you wanted it, yes?"

"Yes," said Trina, stepping up next to her. She'd picked up the stray box of diapers one of the stewardesses had given Tom and shoved it on the undershelf.

Janet put a hand on her shoulder. "You'll want any extra help you can get when the baby comes, Trina, believe me." She went back to the closet, and pulled out the rocking chair. "And _before_ the baby gets here, you shouldn't be lifting or shoving anything heavy." She settled the rocker under the window. "Here?"

Trina walked over and sat in the chair, looked down on the pool outside. "I can see outside from here. Lots of sunshine. It'll be good for the baby." She put a hand to the window, felt heat stream through the glass, even this late in autumn.

Janet looked out the window, over her head. "Oh, that really is a problem, isn't it? You should get a pool cover, a good heavy one, before the baby comes."

* * *

Trina didn't know exactly what had awoken her. It was twilight, though, later than she'd planned to be asleep. Even so, she considered staying in bed, where she was warm and comfortable. Then Tom called out, "What's for dinner, honey?" and she made the effort to get up.

"A nap!" she shouted back. "I fell asleep instead of cooking," she explained in a more normal voice as she made her way down the stairs.

Tom laughed at her, golden and beautiful at the bottom of the stairs. He'd dropped his suitcase somewhere and had his hands out for her, and she walked straight into them. "I'll whip something up," he said. "I can burn chicken pretty quickly, heat up some canned peas."

"Let me throw together a salad instead of those peas."

Tom shrugged, pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'll freshen up and get started pulling something together."

They sat down to eat in about forty-five minutes, and if the chicken was a bit overdone, Trina wasn't going to mention it. She did say, "Thanks for understanding about dinner."

Tom shrugged. "I've been thinking that I should get used to making adjustments like that."

Trina cocked her head to one side. "I've got it together better than that, usually. And the sleepiness should be just about over. Janet and I finished the nursery, that's what pushed me over the edge."

"Well, the pregnancy sleepiness. But when the baby comes…." He didn't finish the sentence, but he didn't have to. A lot of their sentences ended that way these days. They hadn't stopped having parties or going out, but the playroom had been closed and they hadn't been dancing since the last pair of Trina's high heels stopped fitting.

"I don't want to do the dishes," said Trina.

Tom raised one eyebrow. "I cooked after a thirteen hour flight. I hardly think that's fa—."

"No. I want to leave them for tomorrow. Right now, I want to take you to bed."

Tom checked his watch. "It's not even eight o'clock."

"I know," purred Trina. "That gives me at least four hours to blow your mind."

Tom laughed and started pulling plates from the table. "Let me get everything soaking for you, at least."

* * *

"My request to transfer got approved," said Tom.

"You got the New York flight! Oh, babe," said Trina and she grabbed him. "Oh, thank God." She squeezed him. "I just, I didn't know how I was going to handle days in a row without you when the baby comes."

Tom maneuvered them both over to the couch, and brought Trina down on top of him. "You'd have managed. I know you."

"Do you?" she said, head lolling back on his shoulders.

"What kind of question is that?" His tone was gentle, and his hands stroking the sides of her abdomen were gentler still.

She grabbed one of his hands and kissed his fingers before putting it back. "It's not you. I'm just afraid that I'm going to be different, that _we're_ going to be different when the baby comes."

"Well, we _will_ be different," said Tom. "But we'll make it a good different. That's my plan, anyway."

"I miss the old me already, Tom," she said, mournfully. "I miss…," she spread her arms wide, as if to encompass the whole world.

"I'd been thinking," said Tom, in the slightly hesitant voice which Trina knew meant he had not intended to bring whatever it was up, "that maybe we want to have some people over for a last hurrah. 'The Deckers going out in style' or something like that."

"Oh, honey. I don't have the energy to do a really _us_ party."

"Doesn't have to be a party, if you don't want it to be." Tom's voice was even softer and more hesitant.

It took a moment for his meaning to click with her, because he'd never been soft and hesitant about sex before. "Who were you thinking about?" she said.

"Lady's choice," said Tom, and his voice was better, warm and sure.

"I want Susan Donovan." Trina could feel her face flush at the thought, but there'd always been something _tasty_ about Susan, something she wanted to touch one last time.

Tom was silent for a beat, and then he said, "Susan Donovan?"

"Susan Miller before she divorced the schmuck across the street."

"Susan," breathed Tom. "Excellent choice, babe."

* * *

"So," said Trina cheerfully. She'd kicked off her shoes and curled up on one end of the sofa, her feet in Tom's lap.

"So," said Susan, smiling back. She'd worn a seafoam toga dress and her hair up in curls, and Trina couldn't look away. "What sort of an evening did you guys want to have?"

Trina gestured for Susan to come over to the couch, and Susan did, folding gracefully to her knees in front of the couch. "I was hoping," said Trina, "for a very friendly evening." She ran her fingers over Susan's nape and felt the other woman shiver slightly at the delicate touch.

Susan's eyes cut to Tom's face momentarily, then back to Trina. "You didn't invite Bruce. Won't you feel," she shrugged, but gently, not enough to dislodge Trina's fingers, "left out?"

Trina leaned forward, pulling Susan forward. When their mouths were almost touching she said, "I'm not planning on it," and kissed her, lips closed but firm, insistent, seeking Susan's cooperation, her enthusiasm.

Susan did lean into it, opened her mouth and sighed into Trina's as their tongues met. Then she pulled back and said, "Trina? I—."

Trina squeezed, then let go, leaned back from her too precarious position on the couch. "If you don't want to play, we can break out the board games. But I miss you, since you moved into the city, and I miss this," she circled her hand to encompass the three of them, "and there won't be any more of it once the baby comes."

Susan stood up, put her hands out. "Let's go play," she said, with a little head nod towards the upstairs.

When Trina was stretched out on the bed, Susan knelt beside her, a serious, curious expression on her face. "I've never seen one from this side before." She placed one hand on Trina's stomach.

Trina laughed, but she took Susan's hand and placed it higher, on her breast. "I didn't ask you up to play with the baby."

"No," breathed Susan, and she leaned forward; their mouths touched and they shared the same air. "No, you didn't," she murmured into Trina's mouth and she gave her breast a squeeze. She pulled back and looked down. "I've never done that before either."

"It's not that different," said Trina. "Let me show you."

"No," said Tom, "let _me_ show you." His arms came over Susan's shoulders, hands rested on her breasts. "Softly, like this."

"That doesn't seem like enough," said Susan.

"Well, for you, no, I'd try something more like this." Susan sighed as Tom increased the pressure. "But Trina's sensitive, so a little bit is good enough."

Susan nodded and drifted downward, head nearly between Trina's breasts as she touched them, soft swipes along the sides, nail traced lightly over Trina's nipples. Trina hummed at her encouragingly, and her approval seemed to free Susan to touch Trina everywhere.

* * *

"Do I know you from—? You're that advice columnist!" Trina glared at Julie Nielsen, but Julie only had eyes for Janet. "From the newspaper. Miss—."

"My name is Janet Tho—Janet Lincoln. And I'm here as Trina's friend. That's all."

Her voice was firm, but still friendly enough that Julie just said, "Oh, of course," waved, walked away, then turned back and said, "Congratulations on the baby, Trina, really."

Trina waved insincerely and smiled falsely, and, when Julie had turned away, she muttered, "She's not exactly a _celebrity_ , Julie." She put a hand on Janet's forearm and squeezed. "Not to belittle your career."

Janet shook her head and said, "Not to worry. 'Celebrity' is not exactly the way I think of myself." She laughed. "Do you two have that problem?"

Susan turned to look at Janet, one eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?"

"You and I are well on our way to getting divorced. I've got a career of my own, and you are a freshman at City College. Trina is happily, _faithfully_ married, and about to be a mother."

"You're right," said Trina. "If you'd asked me on Memorial Day if my life would be like this come New Year's, I'd have said you were out of your mind."

"Do you like it?" asked Susan, voice soft, hands reaching out for Trina and Janet, both. "It's not the life you would have chosen, but do you like how you're living now?"

Janet bit her lip, but nodded decisively. "I do. I'm respected. I'm in charge of my own life. I feel like I'm really helping people. It's a good life, even if it's not the life I thought I'd have."

Trina took Susan's hands and twined their fingers together. "I've got Tom. I've got you. And you," she said, brushing Janet's side with an elbow. "I'll miss the sex, although, maybe not as much as I feared." She couldn't help looking at Susan, enjoying the flush in Susan's cheeks. "But I've been ready for something real, something _vital_ for a while now. And _this_ ," she placed her free hand on her belly, "is as real as it gets."

"Nope," said Janet cheerfully. "Diapers."

"Colic," said Susan. "Colic is as real as it gets."

"Teething!" said Janet.

"You know what?" said Trina. "I'll find out all about it when the baby comes. Stop trying to scare me off of motherhood. It's really too late now to change my mind. This _is_ my life." 

 


End file.
